other countries look to the united states to lead on the question of syria, because the united states is really the only alternative. where the russians and chinese? i ir the iranians don't offer anything to the people of the region. >> you seem to claim we're still the most influential power in the middle east, and you point out, as you just did, china, russia, brazil, india, very low profiles in the middle east and low influence. i'm sure that's true. isn't that sort of necessary and by design and not default? i mean, you know, we're involved in the middle east because terrorists in afghanistan and iran and syrian and yemen and libya and egypt want to kill innocent americans in part and not innocent brazilians. so i mean, isn't our involvement in the middle east by necessity and not something that we necessarily asked for? >> our involvement in the middle east long predates 9/11 or the invasion of iraq. it is a phenomenon of the post-world war ii era in which we have basically three interests. one, to ensure the free throw of oil out of the region. second, to help ensure israel's se